Elderspeak

The New York Times had an interesting article today about the detrimental impact that "elderspeak" has on older adults.

One form of elderspeak includes belittling an older adult by calling him or her "sweetie" or "dear." When I hear someone use these terms with an older adult, it conveys the message that the person using the terms views the senior as cute and/or docile and, basically, on the same intellectual level as a child.

Another form of elderspeak includes ignoring the older adult altogether and asking his or her companion questions they are perfectly able to answer (e.g., what they'd like to eat for lunch). I experienced this as a master's student in my fieldwork placement. An older woman fell on her way into the senior center and I was asked to accompany her to the urgent care clinic. When we arrived, the nurse began asking me questions about the woman's condition, even though the older woman was completely lucid (and I had known her for about 20 minutes!). 

Click here to read about similar experiences of others and how they've dealt with them.